NAM is the official provider of online scientific reporting for the
8th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment
and Prevention (IAS 2015), which will take place in Vancouver, Canada,
19th-22nd July 2015.

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Search through all our worldwide HIV and AIDS news and features, using the topics below to filter your results by subjects including HIV treatment, transmission and prevention, and hepatitis and TB co-infections.

A new study suggests massive under reporting may occur within the system set up by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate the incidence of acute hepatitis C virus infection. A research team found that less than 1 percent of a group of acute HCV patients in Massachusetts had been reported to the CDC, largely because required data was either not available or did not meet CDC definitions for acute HCV infection.

This report, prepared by Professor David Goldberg and supported by Bristol Myers-Squibb, looks at the linkages between excessive alcohol consumption and hepatitis C, and explores how excessive alcohol consumption can act as a barrier to people with hepatitis C being considered for, receiving and the benefit of treatment for hepatitis C.

At this year's Digestive Disease Week, investigators discussed issues related to screening efforts, the natural history of HCV infection, the safety and efficacy of the next wave of antiviral agents, access to care, and affordability of treatment.

The increase in reports reflects significant improvements in testing for hepatitis and other blood borne viruses (BBV) in prisons, which in a major change is moving from an ‘opt-in’ to an ‘opt-out’ policy to help reduce transmissions.

At a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the Executive Board announced it would as a first step focus investments in three areas: improving antiretroviral therapy for adults in low and middle-income countries; enabling the expanded use, or "scale-up", of first pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as a means of preventing HIV transmission; and the development of better tools to diagnose hepatitis C virus (HCV), in particular for people who are co-infected with HIV/HCV.

Last year, leading experts, institutions, patient organisations and pharmaceutical industry representatives met and agreed that the major recommendations produced between 2011 and 2014 should be compiled into one comprehensive document, to make it easier for policy makers, decision makers, civil society organisations and healthcare institutions to tackle viral hepatitis effectively.

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